SOCHI, Russia — U.S. long-track speedskaters began the Olympics expecting to make several trips to the medal podium.

Instead it's only short-track skaters going home with hardware.

The U.S. won the silver in the men's 5,000-meter short-track relay Friday for the country's only speedskating medal of these Games.

"It's been a tough couple of weeks, but for us, for US Speedskating and for long and short track, we're going to bring that medal home," said Chris Creveling, who joined Eddy Alvarez, J.R. Celski and Jordan Malone on the U.S. team. "We left everything on the ice. We just made it happen for the U.S."

Russia pulled ahead with about six laps to go to win the gold. The race was essentially between the two countries after China, the Netherlands and Kazakhstan fell behind on the first lap when skaters fell. China took the bronze.

"To go home not empty-handed is awesome," a jubilant Alvarez said, pumping his fist with a grin spread across his face. "The pressure was definitely building, but we all came together."

The relay team had won two World Cup races this season, but expectations for short track in Sochi were low after nearly two years of turmoil and changes at US Speedskating that included a skate-tampering scandal and athletes training in three different groups before an organizational overhaul.

Long-track skaters, on the other hand, were poised to shine after taking 28 medals during the World Cup season and boasting the world's top-ranked male skater, Chicago native Shani Davis, and the top two women, Heather Richardson and Brittany Bowe.

But the best U.S. individual finish in long track was seventh place. Earlier Friday, Davis summed up the Olympics for his teammates after the U.S. was knocked out of medal contention in the team pursuit.

"I hope that was my last race here in Sochi," he said with a chuckle.

These are the first Games since 1984 that the U.S. will not medal in long-track speedskating.

"This is something that's going to stick with me for a long time," said Davis, 31, a four-time Olympic medalist. "I'm a pretty resilient guy, been through a lot of stuff. This is going to be a tough one to get over."

Davis, Urbana's Jonathan Kuck and Glenview's Brian Hansen were 31/2 seconds slower than defending champion Canada in the team pursuit.

In the women's event, Richardson, Bowe and Jilleanne Rookard lost to a red-hot Dutch team that clocked an Olympic record.

Bowe said despite the struggles on and off the ice in Sochi, she and her teammates remained positive, worked together and enjoyed their time.

"All of the outside things — so be it," Bowe said. "We leave it all on the track."

In other short-track races Friday, Jessica Smith finished fourth in the women's 1,000 final, while Emily Scott didn't advance out of the quarterfinals. South Korea's Park Seung-hi took gold, China's Fan Kexin silver and South Korea's Shim Suk-hee bronze.

And Celski was eliminated in the semifinals of the men's 500. Gold went to Russia's Victor Ahn, silver to China's Wu Dajing and bronze to Canada's Charle Cournoyer.